Urgent advice needed re Solicitor's fees.

Diablo96

All,

I had a civil matter that went to court. I hired a solicitor to fight my case and the case went in my favour. That was 2 years ago. Fast forward to 2 months ago, I received a £15K bill out of nowhere for services rendered!


The salient points are:

• I paid the lawyer in cash (as requested) for the first meeting. Despite several requests, he did not give me a receipt for this.

• I asked him for a client care letter setting out his fees, estimates etc. He never gave me one.

• He asked for monies on account. I wired these to him, so have proof.

• Although I was so caught up in fighting the case, I did notice that he never mentioned what costs I was incurring. I verbally asked on several occasions and also have emails in which I asked him for costs to date and for an estimate going forward. He never provided either.

• I won the case and he did not request any more money. I assumed that money on account must have covered it. Never heard anything after that.
My question is, where do I stand in regard to this bill? I am annoyed in that I don’t think that the lawyer has acted correctly. I feel that if he had told me how the fees were mounting, I could have stopped him.
I really cannot afford to pay this bill at the moment, and he is now threatening me with legal action if I do not pay in full today.

Any advice anyone can give me would be gratefully received.

wealdroam

One salient point missing is what has happened in the last two months since you got the bill?

Another is... Is £15k 1% or 50%, or even 150%, of the court award?

Diablo96

Hi,

IN the space of two months, there have been 3 chaser letters asking for payment in full.

There was no court award other than the tenant had to vacate my flat and his claim for disrepair against me was rejected.

Many thanks.

System

You should never assume anything.

I would suggest you speak to another solicitor to discuss your options. Often threats of legal action are empty threats but as £15k is a lot of money and this guy is a solicitor, then this is going to court.

spacey2012

Did you have any kind of signed agreement or contract with this solicitor ?

Diablo96

spacey2012 wrote: »

Did you have any kind of signed agreement or contract with this solicitor ?

I do not recall signing anything. However, I did confirm by e-mail that I wanted him to represent me.

Hintza

You need to ask him for a breakdown of the bill and money already received. This will at least then give you something to get your teeth in to and argue.

pinkshoes

As above, you need to WRITE back, saying you dispute the monies owed, and you will need a full break down of every hour worked and every task carried out, amounting to the full £15k, with times and dates for each cost.

Are you saying the "monies on account" are what you thought was the bill for his services? (plus the cash payment).

Obviously £15k is a HUGE bill for getting some tenants evicted, which essentially most people would do themselves! And if you'd done it yourself, surely your losses on the flat couldn't have been more than this??!

steampowered

There is a complaints process for solicitor's bills. You also have a right to ask the court to have the bill assessed. These rights should be explained on the invoice. Make sure you exercise those rights within the proper timeframes.

kazzah60

you need to contact the solicitors regulation authority- as far as I know a solicitor is LEGALLY bound to inform clients of costs at periodic intervals throughout the process and DEFINITELY when a client has requested such costs

there is potential here for the solicitor to be disciplined and I would report him ASAP and get some advice from the SRA

arcon5

£15k to evict a tenant :eek::eek::eek:

Would have been cheaper to let the tenant stay rent free!!

Whenever i've used a solicitor I ask for a price before work begins, or where that's not possible a cap and/or agreed rates. For a case like evicting a tenant I see no reason a rate cannot be agreed upfront to obtain a court order